Rollin Oliver told investigators he was fleeing a group of about a dozen members of the Crips street gang as a friend was being beaten when he fired into a crowded park, according to testimony from a Denver police detective.

One bullet became fragments at his feet. Another struck the ground nearby. A third passed through a shingle on the roof of a nearby building.

The fatal bullet — the one noted by Marker No. 2 in police records — was found 80-plus yards away from the casings Oliver left in his wake and carried the DNA of Denver Police Officer Celena Hollis.

Oliver, 21, stands accused of murder with extreme indifference in Hollis' shooting at the June 24 City Park Jazz concert.

Celena Hollis (Denver Police Dept.)

Denver District Court Judge Brian Whitney ruled Thursday that the indiscriminate firing of bullets and the undisputed evidence showing Oliver's gun was used to kill Hollis were enough to proceed to trial and to keep Oliver behind bars in the meantime.

"Proof is evident the defendant committed this crime," Whitney said, leaving open the door for defense attorneys to present additional evidence as more witnesses are located.

Oliver's arraignment was set for Oct. 4.

To prove the murder charge against him, prosecutors won't have to show he intended to kill Hollis, only that he should have known his actions could have killed someone.

The Thursday preliminary gave the public a first glimpse at the events that led up to Hollis' shooting, the background of her accused killer and how Oliver came to be carrying a gun that night.

He'd come to the park with a friend. They'd listened to music for at least an hour but were being hassled by a group of men thought to be Crips.

Laying the foundation of a self-defense argument, public defender William Drexler said his client was trying to leave when his friend was attacked.

That's when the fight that Hollis was rushing to break up when she was killed broke out. Drexler said a group of Crips began chasing Oliver.

"They were leaving the park because this other group of people who they believed were Crips were flashing gang signs at them," said Drexler. "Not only were they not instigating trouble, but they we're trying to get away from it."

Hollis' family sat stoically in the front row as they heard details about the officer's death, leaving through a staff exit to avoid speaking with the media afterward. Oliver's family and friends also attended but declined to comment.

Myriad witnesses' statements vary on how many people were involved in the fight — between eight and 20 — and whether any of those attacking Oliver and his friend pulled guns themselves.

Some said an unidentified man involved in the confrontation told them to flee because there was going to be a shooting.

At least one person refuted claims that Oliver was being chased as he fired, according to Denver homicide Detective Jaime Castro, the prosecution's witness at the hearing and lead detective on the case.

Investigators have determined that at least 20 other people were immediately in harm's way and that Oliver knew his actions put people at risk when he fired the gun.

"I asked if he was aware that by shooting the gun in the park with that many people he would hit somebody, he said 'Yes,' " Castro testified.

The DPD crime lab linked all four testable bullets found at the scene to Oliver's Ruger. Investigators haven't determined whether a fifth grouping of fragments were also a bullet.

Oliver was in the process of getting a concealed weapons permit at the time Hollis was shot, his attorney said. Drexler said his client bought the gun legally after he took a bullet leaving a party and suffered a lasting injury to his leg.

Castro interviewed Oliver a few hours after the shooting.

"He said he was not going to back down from anyone," Castro testified. "He said he didn't go there looking for trouble, but he knew that it was a possibility."

The Park Hill neighborhood where Oliver lives had been racked by gang violence in the run-up to Hollis' death, including one man who was shot in the face hours before the City Park shooting.

The area is known Blood territory surrounded by neighborhoods controlled by rival Crips.

Castro said Oliver claimed to be affiliated with the Park Hill Bloods when he was contacted by police three years ago, but Drexler disputed that his client was part of a street gang.

Drexler said in court that a sheriff's deputy identified Oliver as a Park Hill Blood on orders from her superiors after he checked into jail.

Captain Frank Gale, spokesman for the Denver County Sheriff's department, said he had no knowledge of what the defense team presented in court Thursday but said a change like that would be unusual.

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